CZ 527 Carbine in 7.62x39... gem or junk?

[MilitaryCollectorMark]

I bought this first generation 7.62x39 carbine off the EE with a badly broken stock that I had planned on fixing. Ended up finding a like new late model CZ 527 American stock so I went that way instead. Great little farm gun.

Very nice!! Is that the new 4500 elite scope? Been looking to get one for my 7.62x39.

 

[Grain]

Very nice!! Is that the new 4500 elite scope? Been looking to get one for my 7.62x39.

Thanks, believe so, picked it up last summer.

 

[M1911]

Shot mine yesterday - what kind of accuracy has everyone been able to get out of these?

I average about 1.5 MOA 5-shot groups with Barnaul, haven’t tried many other brands. Have been able to pull of a few sub inch groups when I have my stuff together

 

[Canuck65]

Overall, I liked the one I used to have. Perfect deer rifle (short, light, fast). What I didn’t like was the cheap stock that CZ seems to keep putting on their rifles, and the action was super rough. People say they slick up over time, but I’d rather have one that just ran smooth out of the box.

Overall, a neat rifle and at that price, you can’t lose, but in terms of quality, fit and finish, etc, CZ wouldn’t be my first choice for the money unless you really wanted something in that chambering.

 

[blakeyboy]

IF Ruger put oem iron sites on the Ranch it would be a homerun...they could offer it inexpensively if done at manufacture.....

agree would be nice to see more irons but there's a decent solution that could work nice for you, 1. take off the factory rail, 2. install a simple 1-3 slot rail(weaver base) on the front mounting holes, 3. grab a holosun 407c green dot with rail mount base and you have a pretty decent solution that doesn't require batteries (solar is primary power source, battery is leaned on in the dark if not enough ambient light), it has shake awake auto mode that means it's always ready as soon as you touch the gun, just like iron sights are, this option gets it low on the rifle to mirror scope in low rings for natural alignment fyi...I think factory rail might add a bit more height over basic simple weaver bases that most of us have handful of kicking around that we took off various rifles etc. well maybe the factory rail isn't too tall, just something to consider if looking into this option?

 

[Hitzy]

New wood CZ has this bedding set up, seems to work, haven't blown mine up yet.
Also picked up a 223 in synthetic but the stock is a little flimsy in the forend and I'm going to have to do something about that.

 

[CanuckShooter]

So the "revised" stock has two recoil lugs or just one? Did the recoil lug get added the same time they changed the sights? The rifle I'm considering has what I believe are the older version of the open sights. The rear is at 90 degrees from the barrel, not slanted back like the new sight. Front sight is a very fine bead I guess you'd call it?

I severely doubt they'll let me take the action out of the stock to check the recoil lugs. Lol

 

[Hitzy]

So the "revised" stock has two recoil lugs or just one? Did the recoil lug get added the same time they changed the sights? The rifle I'm considering has what I believe are the older version of the open sights. The rear is at 90 degrees from the barrel, not slanted back like the new sight. Front sight is a very fine bead I guess you'd call it?

I severely doubt they'll let me take the action out of the stock to check the recoil lugs. Lol

Sights I believe were changed before the stocks, 527 basically got the 557 sights in an "upgrade" if you want to call it that, stocks came after that.
So if it has the old style sights, probably has the old.style stock, but if the guy shot it and it didn't crack, it's probably fine.
It's not really the front recoil lug causing the issue, it's the rear tang coming in contact with the wrist, same problem that happens with any old school Mauser and easily corrected.

 

[terez]

The new style sites its the front site that is a complete fail...its plastic...fibreoptic....has a uber tiny allen screw to hold the flimsy plastic site which rockers in an eccentric arc to adjust...it is a miserable lil piece of crap....a poor answer to a question not asked.
The older front site was steel and not adjustable....

The 762 rifles recoil harder than the 223 ...which mostly dont suffer from the cracking issue.

And yes as mentioned it is the action tang that contacts the wrist and cracks it...avoidable yes...IF one was aware prior to it occuring...which a lot of us didnt before we ended up with cracked stocks
Yes it can be addressed with fairly easy approach before it cracks...depensing on ho bad it cracks it gets ugly afterward.


As for accuracy...I havent engaged in any true data collection....but casual shooting from the bench has shown decent surplus to easily do 2moa ish....Barnaul and SB hunting ammo shoots MOA ish.....I have lil doubt carefully loaded ammo with quality bullets would sneak under MOA easily enuf.

MOA with affordable readily available hinting ammo is pretty damn good for this type of rifle and its mission(s) ....It is the consistent solid practical accuracy that is impressive.....

 

[terez]

agree would be nice to see more irons but there's a decent solution that could work nice for you, 1. take off the factory rail, 2. install a simple 1-3 slot rail(weaver base) on the front mounting holes, 3. grab a holosun 407c green dot with rail mount base and you have a pretty decent solution that doesn't require batteries (solar is primary power source, battery is leaned on in the dark if not enough ambient light), it has shake awake auto mode that means it's always ready as soon as you touch the gun, just like iron sights are, this option gets it low on the rifle to mirror scope in low rings for natural alignment fyi...I think factory rail might add a bit more height over basic simple weaver bases that most of us have handful of kicking around that we took off various rifles etc. well maybe the factory rail isn't too tall, just something to consider if looking into this option?

View attachment 683802

Interesting idea/setup.....Ill look into that optic......still strongly considering Nodak iron sites....expensive but ideal and rugged
Thanks

PS What stock is that ???

 

[conor_90]

I had the crack and I'd rather buy an older model still tbh. I like the gusseted magwell and older fixed sights.

I had a shield red dot on my ruger ranch. I kept the rail (why would you remove a rail to mount an rds?) and put my sight in the rear position after trying the front. I found it to be like using a peep sight, but obviously easier to aim etc. You can shoot to field accuracy surprisingly far with the red dot with much less skill and eyesight required than irons at distance

 

[SuperCub]

I avoided the crack issue by buying one in a synthetic stock. Nice little rifle and accurate. The only thing I don't like about them is the extended magazine sits exactly where I want to carry it one handed.

 

[CanuckShooter]

A YouTuber named John Capps put out a video outlining the issues he's had with his rifle. He has the "revised" version with the new sights etc. Not sure if his rifle also has the newer recoil lug setup or not (seems likely), but he also bedded his rifle, and it still did not prevent the crack from happening. I'm not sure what to make of that. Perhaps it's the combination of bedding, plus relieving wood around the tang that needs to be done to prevent the crack.

I'm a bit shocked that despite how popular these rifles were, in combination with just how common this cracking is, that no one jumped in to capitalize on the situation by putting out an improved stock. Even a simple, inexpensive synthetic. I don't like the Boyd's AT-one at all, but it looks like that might be the only option in an aftermarket option.

 

[Northern Shooter]

I've put over 1,000 rounds downrange in my late model CZ527 and the stock has held up just fine. I had heard of some of the CZ big bores having their stocks crack in the 550 line, never the 517 so thats news to me.

 

[M1911]

I avoided the crack issue by buying one in a synthetic stock. Nice little rifle and accurate. The only thing I don't like about them is the extended magazine sits exactly where I want to carry it one handed.

Impressive accuracy with those hand loads

I agree about the mag being exactly where your hand should go

I also don’t like the flimsy fiber-optic sights on the newer models as someone else mentioned

Beyond that it’s a great rifle for my money

 

[blakeyboy]

Interesting idea/setup.....Ill look into that optic......still strongly considering Nodak iron sites....expensive but ideal and rugged
Thanks

PS What stock is that ???

and I'll look up these nodak irons, this rifle is a howa mini in a Stocky's carbon stock, the optic set up would be identical to do on my murican ranches but I have pulled the rails on those for talley lightweights lows and trijicon accupoint 3-9x40's, that optic gives about a 3.8 moa dot with that eye relief and I shot it just as tight at 200 yards on the bench as I did with fixed 6x on the same rifle, maybe a little tighter actually, dot covers about 7-8" at 206 yards, still fits inside the kill zone and trajectory can be set so the bullet stays within the dot to mpbr, the pro's over irons is the 360 degree view around the aim point, seeing under the dot is helpful, and quick but also for hold overs or overall perception and seeing the full target area not just the top half

edit, looked up the Nodak irons for ruger American ranches...brilliant!!!

 

[Gun123]

I avoided the crack issue by buying one in a synthetic stock. Nice little rifle and accurate. The only thing I don't like about them is the extended magazine sits exactly where I want to carry it one handed.

My 527 likes the Hornady 123 SST the most, but it just does not like Reloader 7. I tried to develop a load with Reloader 7 that would shoot, but failed. Instead, my 527 likes the ball powder CFE Black the most. With Hornady 123 SST, it shoots sub MOA most of the time.

 

[Sun_and_Steel_77]

and I'll look up these nodak irons, this rifle is a howa mini in a Stocky's carbon stock, the optic set up would be identical to do on my murican ranches but I have pulled the rails on those for talley lightweights lows and trijicon accupoint 3-9x40's, that optic gives about a 3.8 moa dot with that eye relief and I shot it just as tight at 200 yards on the bench as I did with fixed 6x on the same rifle, maybe a little tighter actually, dot covers about 7-8" at 206 yards, still fits inside the kill zone and trajectory can be set so the bullet stays within the dot to mpbr, the pro's over irons is the 360 degree view around the aim point, seeing under the dot is helpful, and quick but also for hold overs or overall perception and seeing the full target area not just the top half

edit, looked up the Nodak irons for ruger American ranches...brilliant!!!

The NoDak sights for the American are seriously rugged and well built. You can flip from large aperture to small and be quite accurate with them.

... Sorry to Hijack the 527 thread, had two in the past, my experience was a sticky, #####y bolt that would bind at rear of travel if you were trying to run it fast and the sharp edges of the magazine dug into my carrying hand. I never had any cracks on the wood stocked model.

 

[CharlesT]

I bought one off the EE. It was the older model with the post front sight. It is light, the action is slick and it handles very well.

However, as I received it, it shot about 6 to 8MOA whether using surplus or factory hunting ammunition. After a great deal of head scratching and tinkering plus installing an NECG peep sight, it now shoots about 1.5MOA with handloads and 4MOA with surplus. It seems, based on the above comments, that my rifle was one of those that just didn't group out of the box.

As most have said, a three round magazine would make this a perfect deer gun for the bush. That said, I will be carrying it this fall.

CT

 

[terez]

Sumthin wrong with that rifle to shoot that poorly.....yes very uncharacteristic of them.

Barrel touching the stock? Sloppy headspace? Muzzle flaw?